Freakn' Sweet » Gear

The Amazon Cloud Player: Another Reason to Love Amazon!

cwhitmore — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:08:03 +0000

They’ve been in a the business of selling music (and other things) for a while. Earlier this month Amazon launched their Android App Store but they’ve just stepped up their game again. Taking on Apple and Google, Amazon just launched it’s very own music streaming service. The Amazon Cloud Player lets you shop 15 million songs and play your music on any Android device, PC or Mac. Existing customers in the US can now upload their MP3 purchases to their 5GB cloud space and if 5GB isn’t enough you can upgrade to a one-year 20GB plan for FREE when you purchase an MP3 album.

Pretty sweet stuff if you ask me… Where you at Google Music?

View the press release after the break.

[via Amazon]

Introducing Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon Cloud Player for Web, and Amazon Cloud Player for Android
Buy anywhere, play anywhere and keep all your music in one place
Start with 5 GB of free Cloud Drive storage – upgrade to 20 GB free with purchase of any MP3 album

SEATTLE, Mar 29, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced the launch of Amazon Cloud Drive (www.amazon.com/clouddrive), Amazon Cloud Player for Web (www.amazon.com/cloudplayer) and Amazon Cloud Player for Android (www.amazon.com/cloudplayerandroid). Together, these services enable customers to securely store music in the cloudand play it on any Android phone, Android tablet, Mac or PC, wherever they are. Customers can easily upload their music library to Amazon Cloud Drive and can save any new Amazon MP3 purchases directly to their Amazon Cloud Drive for free.

“We’re excited to take this leap forward in the digital experience,” said Bill Carr, vice president of Movies and Music at Amazon. “The launch of Cloud Drive, Cloud Player for Web and Cloud Player for Android eliminates the need for constant software updates as well as the use of thumb drives and cables to move and manage music.”

“Our customers have told us they don’t want to download music to their work computers or phones because they find it hard to move music around to different devices,” Carr said. “Now, whether at work, home, or on the go, customers can buy music from Amazon MP3, store it in the cloud and play it anywhere.”

Store Music for Free

Customers automatically start with 5 GB of Cloud Drive storage to upload their digital music library, and those who purchase an Amazon MP3 album will be upgraded to 20 GB of Cloud Drive space. New Amazon MP3 purchases saved directly to Cloud Drive are stored for free and do not count against a customer’s storage quota.

Adding Music to Cloud Drive

Amazon’s easy uploading process makes it simple for customers to save their music library to their Cloud Drive. Files can be stored in AAC or MP3 formats and will be uploaded to Cloud Drive in the original bit rate. Customers can hand-pick particular songs, artists, albums or playlists to upload or simply upload their entire music library.

Cloud Player for Web

Customers who have a computer with a Web browser can listen to their music. Cloud Player for Web currently supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari for Mac, and Chrome. Cloud Player for Web lets customers easily manage their music with download and streaming options. Customers don’t need to worry about regularly updating software on their computer to enjoy music, and Amazon MP3 customers can continue to use iTunes and Windows Media Player to add their music to their iPods and MP3 players.

Cloud Player for Android

Cloud Player for Android is now bundled into the new version of the Amazon MP3 App; it includes the full Amazon MP3 Store and the mobile version of Cloud Player. Customers can use the app to play music stored on their Cloud Drive and music stored locally on their device. Features include the ability to search and browse by artist, album or song, create playlists and download music from Cloud Drive.

Secure Storage

Customers never need to worry about losing their music collection to a hard drive crash again. Files are securely stored on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and each file is uploaded to Cloud Drive in its original bit rate. Customers can buy music anywhere and know that their MP3s are safely stored in Cloud Drive and accessible from any device.

Store More than Music

Cloud Drive allows customers to upload and store all kinds of digital files; music, photos, videos and documents can be stored securely and are available via web browser on any computer. In addition to the 5 GB of free storage, customers can purchase storage plans starting at $20 a year for 20 GB.

Meet the HTC Flyer

cwhitmore — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 01:23:08 +0000

It’s no secret that this is the year of the tablet and it was just a matter of time before HTC jumped in the pool. Meet the new HTC Flyer ($TBA). It’s running Android 2.4 with the Sense UI and features a seven-inch touchscreen with 1024×600 resolution, a 1.5 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage with microSD expansion…… [catching breath] ……HSPA+/GSM cellular connectivity, a five megapixel rear camera with auto focus, a 1.3 megapixel front camera, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP. That should be enough to take on the iPad right? I can’t wait to get this!

I also could help but notice that it didn’t have Honeycomb so thats a little sad but it does has Skype video calls. I think this is the gadget Jason has been looking for.

Angry Birds – Letters From the Front Lines

cwhitmore — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 05:42:29 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have you hopped on the Angry Birds bandwagon yet? If not you’re definitely missing out. In the meantime check out this awesome Civil War / Angry Birds mashup by Chris Riebschlager.

Get your Angry Birds gear here!

Sony Handycam HDR-TD10 3D Camcorder

cwhitmore — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:38:12 +0000

So if you were one of the cool kids this Christmas and got one of those fancy new 3D TVs (I was not) you might be wondering what to do now. Well you can grab the new Sony Handycam HDR-TD10 3D Camcorder ($1,500) and go back to those home video days recording everything YOU think is awesome. This new beast is touting the ability to shoot full 1080p 3D video, the TD10 also sports an integrated dual Sony G lens system, two Exmor R CMOS sensors, two BIONZ image processors, 64GB of internal flash memory, Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, 10x optical zoom, and a glasses-free 3.5-inch 3D LCD touchscreen. WoW… thats ridiculous! …and yes, I’m still bitter.

S-Biner Ahhh: My new keyring

cwhitmore — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 04:10:55 +0000

I’ve been in the market for a new keyring and though the S-Biner Ahh ($4) isn’t quite a “ring”, I think it will do the trick. Sure it’s an S-Biner and can be used for all kinds of multifunctional stuff… my keys, water bottles, camping gear, clipping things together… you get the picture. However, as you couldn’t miss by the picture, the most important note about this masterpiece is its also a bottle opener. (hence the “Ahhh”)

The S-Biner Ahh by Nite Ize comes in black and stainless. Get your’s here and check out their other cool stuff. I’ll be expecting mine to arrive just in time for Beer:30!

Sled in style with the Porsche Design Bobsleigh

cwhitmore — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:48:18 +0000

It’s that time of year again. I’m not talking about the holidays though, I’m talking about ridiculous winter weather. Ice storms, blizzards and last but not least snow days! What better way to spend that snow day then hauling ass past someone on the Porsche Design Bobsleigh ($165). You may die because you’re going so fast but you’ll look freakn’ awesome doing it.

I think I’m going to have to add this to the Freakn’ Sweet wish list!

11 Year Old Dunks (Adrian Moore)

peckelkamp — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 06:56:03 +0000

So apparently this eleven year old from Little Rock, Arkansas can dunk. I couldn’t dunk till I was 15. That qualifies as Freakn’ Sweet in my book.

A new green file format: WWF

cwhitmore — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 05:03:40 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

SAVE AS WWF, SAVE A TREE Thats the pitch behind the new green file format called WWF. It’s essentially a PDF that can’t be printed out.

It’s a simple way to avoid unnecessary printing. So here’s your chance to save trees and help the environment. Decide for yourself which documents don’t need printing out – then simply save them as WWF.

The WWF file format is currently only available on Mac but they have a Windows version coming soon. Check it out and let us know what you think? Will you use it? I first have to stop thinking of wrestling every time I hear it…

[via LikeCool]

A busy day for Google! Nexus S, Gingerbread SDK & Google Books

cwhitmore — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 04:46:49 +0000

Well Google went all out today… They announced the Nexus S, released the Gingerbread SDK and launched Google Books. I would say they’ve been busy. So lets break this down.

The Nexus S has a lot of “firsts” going for it. First phone to run Gingerbread (Android 2.3), first to have a 4″ Contoured Display, and support for Near Field Communication. Some of the other highlights are an improved keyboard, VoIP/SIP support, Wi-Fi hotspots 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 16GB internal memory, a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and a slew of other great stuff.

Check out the video and learn about the Gingerbread SDK and Google Books after the break.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gingerbread SDK:
There are tons of new platform technologies and APIs in the new SDK. Here are some of the coolest highlights from the Android Developers blog:

Enhancements for game development: To improve overall responsiveness, we’ve added a new concurrent garbage collector and optimized the platform’s overall event handling. We’ve also given developers native access to more parts of the system by exposing a broad set of native APIs. From native code, applications can now access input and sensor events, EGL/OpenGL ES, OpenSL ES, and assets, as well a new framework for managing lifecycle and windows. For precise motion processing, developers can use several new sensor types, including gyroscope.

Rich multimedia: To provide a great multimedia environment for games and other applications, we’ve added support for the new video formats VP8 and WebM, as well as support for AAC and AMR-wideband encoding. The platform also provides new audio effects such as reverb, equalization, headphone virtualization, and bass boost.

New forms of communication: The platform now includes support for front-facing camera, SIP/VOIP, and Near Field Communications (NFC), to let developers include new capabilities in their applications.

For a complete overview of what’s new in the platform, see the Android 2.3 Platform Highlights.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Google Books:
Last but not least is the announcement of Google Books. It’s a project they’ve been working on for quite a while now and currently have more that 3 million Google eBooks. It works on tons of devices too. (Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Web and NOOK)

Learn more about Google Books here!

Click here to view the embedded video.

RockMelt: The new kid (browser) on the block

cwhitmore — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:34:32 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s right as of today there is a new browser out there and it’s called RockMelt. The whole gist of RockMelt is a browser built around you.

RockMelt does more than just navigate Web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the Web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search.

I think this is going to be really cool for all of us social junkies out there. Not to mention it should be a treat for us web developers too since it’s built on Chromium. I’ve signed up to get early access so once I do I’ll let you know what we think. In the meantime check out the RockMelt blog for a full list of features.

Freakn' Sweet » Gear

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